LimeWire in P2P data theft case
p2pnet news | Crime:- The members of the organised music cartel, Warner Music, EMI, Vivendi Universal and Sony BMG, have just been handed a brand new weapon to use in their attacks on their own customers whom they accuse of being illegal online distributors of copyrighted music.
US federal prosecutors say a 35-your-old Seattle man used LimeWire to access tax returns, credit reports, bank statements and student financial-aid applications housed on hundreds of computers in America.
Quoting the US Department of Justice, Gregory Thomas Kopiloff would, “use identity information gleaned from those documents to open credit accounts over the Internet, buy goods over the Internet, ship them to various mailboxes in the Puget Sound area and resell the merchandise for about half its retail price,” says CNET News.
One has to wonder if the criminal allegations, “will inflame those earlier arguments that the peer-to-peer software maker hasn’t made it clear enough how to close off certain directories to outside snooping,” says the story.
Sharman Networks, owners of the Kazaa P2P file sharing application, are currently being sued in a class action which claims Sharman “designed the KaZaA software to share the contents of the individual users ’share folder’ without letting the users know they’d made such content available to others.
However, Kopiloff was no innocent victim, says CNET.
He was arrested at his government-subsidized apartment, says Associated Press, going on:
“According to a four-count indictment, he bought at least $73,000 worth of goods online – including iPods and laptop computers – then resold those items at half-price and kept the proceeds. Investigators said he blew through most of the money supporting a gambling habit.”
At least 83 victims, “most of whom have teenage children and did not know the file-sharing software was on their computer,” says the story, continuing: “But investigators also said they believe the number of people affected was in the hundreds – and that in all they lost hundreds of thousands of dollars.
“Though people have been prosecuted for using networks to illegally share copyrighted music, movies and software, the Justice Department called this the first version of an equally – if not more – troubling matter.”
If the charges of mail fraud and “accessing a protected computer without authorization to further fraud” hold up, Kopiloff could face up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, says CNET, adding:
“If convicted on an ‘aggravated identity theft’ charge, his prison sentence would be increased by two years.”
Also See:
CNET News – Seattle man accused of identity theft via P2P, September 6, 2007
currently being sued – RIAA named in first class action, August 16, 2007
Associated Press – Accusation of ID Theft by File-Sharing, September 6, 2007
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September 7th, 2007 at 10:56 am
“If the charges of mail fraud and “accessing a protected computer without authorization to further fraud” hold up, Kopiloff could face up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, says CNET”
While I do not condone his criminal activities; RIAA is arguing that their MediaSentry “investigators” are not guilty of “accessing a protected computer without authorization[...]” because their victims made their musiccollections accessible on their computers, so logicly speaking must either get this criminal a free pass for using limewire or the DOJ must file charges against the RIAA and their buddy MediaSentry aka. SafeNet.
But I doubt that will happen
September 7th, 2007 at 10:59 am
Is it not what the RIAA is doing? Abusive and unwaranted search and seizure in people computers?
September 8th, 2007 at 4:50 pm
jon you butchered this story. Kopiloff was the criminal, not a victim.
September 27th, 2007 at 9:04 am
Limewire is no fun
September 27th, 2007 at 9:05 am
fghjfghjfghjfghj
August 17th, 2008 at 11:18 pm
did the dude not think he would get caught? You can’t steal from that many people and not eventually get busted. As far as sharman goes, hey if they don’t know what their SHARE FOLDER is and they’re on a P2P network well, don’t be an idiot.
My mother in law works at a law firm and one of her fellow employees had a 13 year old who the music companies went after. Lucky for them they had several good attorneys (her bosses) but they still got the shaft. They ended up having to settle and it cost them like 20,000 dolllars. I guess they wanted to make an example out of him.